Three new High Street banking chains are to be created by the government by selling off parts of state-rescued banks... but what will they be called?  Rumours have it that names being considered are We're Marginally Less Secure Than A Tupperware Box Under The Mattress;  Sorry We're Shut Please Phone India; and Bollinger Rolls Royce Bonus Bank.

Sir Elton John has cancelled more concerts, allegedly because of ill health.  But sources close to the 90 year old say he is concerned about the security of his hairpiece during the current windy weather.

David Miliband is due in Moscow later for the first visit to Russia in five years by a British Foreign Secretary.  He should have been there yesterday but the pilot got lost.  He told reporters: 'well, we haven't been there for five years. what do you expect?'

Weather:  Forecasters say it will stay wet and windy. And then it will stop. Sometime.